Shake Off Your Armor
by Spike'sSavior
Summary: After a nasty fight with Logan, Kitty retreats to the bustling streets of New York City and meets a stranger that will turn her life upside down. Kitty has never fought against or really heard about Victor before.
1. Meetings in Celluloid

Just so everyone knows. Kitty is 19 almost 20 in this fic. Victor isn't a psycho murdering evil person but he still could be considered a bad guy. Please review.

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Kitty was pissed off, she had been seething but the drive from the mansion to New York City had helped to calm her down some. The young woman had been having what she felt was the worst week ever, and she had hoped that the weekend would help her relax a bit. That was until Logan had decided to get on his high horse and tell her it was high time she shipped off to college.

The older man knew that she didn't feel like college was for her, at least not yet, but he kept pressuring her to go. Kitty knew that Logan meant well but when he got his claws into something he wasn't going to let up for anything. Combined with her stressful week, Logan's pestering had caused them to get into a shouting match to end all shouting matches.

They had both gone for the emotional jugular which left them both hurt and angry before they stormed off. She knew Logan had gone to his best friend Remy to get drunk while she had sped off to New York City. She planned to spend a few hours in the city and hopefully by the time she got back to the mansion Logan would be too drunk to remember which way was up.

Kitty had known the older man since she was 14 and over time they had grown close. Close enough for Kitty to consider Logan her older brother. In true older brother fashion, Logan grated on her nerves whenever he decided to treat her like she was a stupid little kid and didn't know what was what.

"Stupid Logan," she mumbled for the tenth time as she ran a hand through her long brown hair before turning onto West 65th street. Her eyes fell onto the Walter Reade Theater and a small smile spread over her face. Logan had brought her to the theater when she was 15 and it had always held a special place in her heart since then.

She was lucky enough to find a parking place close to the theater and she quickly got out of her car and locked the doors before heading to the ticket booth. There was only one movie that she was in time for and even though she'd never seen it before she decided to take a chance.

"One for 'The Man Who Laughs' please," she said.

***

The theater was partly crowded; there was enough room for people to be spread out all over the place. Kitty picked a spot that was closer to the back and sat down. She dug in her pants pocket and brought out her phone. There was a new text message from Jean asking if she was ok, and what time she would be back home. Kitty sighed before turning off her phone and returning the small device to her pocket.

She looked over in surprise as she felt someone sit down in the seat next to her. "This seat taken?" he asked with a smirk.

"Uh, no," she replied unsurely as she looked him over in the dim light. He had short brown hair, muscled build and even though he was sitting down she could guess that he was close to six feet tall. He wore a dark long sleeved t-shirt with an old and worn pair of jeans and an old pair of black Corcoran jump boots. But what drew her in were his blue eyes that seemed to have an inhuman glow.

Kitty realized she was staring and quickly looked away, biting her bottom lip in slight embarrassment. 'Great, my week has sucked, Logan and I just tried to kill each other with words, and now I'm looking like an idiot in front of a hot guy, this week couldn't get any friggin worse,' she thought in frustration.

"You ever seen this movie before?"

Kitty looked over at the man and shook her head "Just thought I'd try it out, you?"

"A few times, including when it was first released," he said and she looked at him in confusion before she shook her head, realizing he was teasing her.

"Yea cause you look 80 some odd years old," she said back with a small smile.

"You'd be surprised," he replied cryptically and Kitty began to wonder how old the man was. He looked to be only in his late 20's early 30's.

"So what's your name?" she asked, figuring she might as well keep up their conversation while they were waiting. He seemed interesting and she hadn't felt threatened by anything he'd said or done so she was almost sure he wasn't a perv or an axe murderer.

His blue eyes locked with her own brown ones and she almost gasped at the intensity of his gaze. "Name's Victor," he said.

Kitty put on a sweet smile "Nice to meet you Victor, I'm Kitty."

"Kitty?" he said thoughtfully "You gotta thing for cats?"

She laughed softly "I guess so."

Victor grinned "So do I, but only the big ones."

"No pampered house cats then?"

"Not usually, but then again you could change my mind," Victor said making Kitty blush. She was thankful and disappointed when the lights dimmed down even more and the opening credit began to play.

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	2. We're All Freaks Here

2nd chapter and I hope you guys like it. Please review.

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Kitty had always loved silent movies, even though the actor's faces were painted with about 5 pounds worth of make up and everyone was over acting to compensate for the lack of sound. The stories were good though and, even though she'd never admit it, a feeling of sophistication always overcame her after the movie ended. She wasn't quite sure why, but it felt good so she wasn't going to try and stop the feeling. She watched intently as the child Gwynplaine came across a woman and baby in a horrible snow storm. Kitty's mind, however, kept drifting off to think about the man sitting next to her.

She knew nothing about him except that he like big game cats and his name. Victor, she had never met anyone with that name before. It seemed to her like a name from a long time ago, decades ago and Kitty began to wonder once more on how old the man really was. She looked over at him from the corner of her eye for another peek at him. He didn't look old at all, older than her but not too much older. Victor really was quite handsome and from the way he carried himself, he seemed aware of his good looks.

His lips turned upward in a small smirk and Kitty looked away quickly as he glanced over at her. She concentrated on the film and forced herself not to blush in case he saw her red cheeks in the ghostly light of the theater. Gwynplaine and the baby he had saved were taken in by an old man who soon discovered Gwynplaine's carved on smile and that the baby was blind. Time elapsed and the two children had grown into young adults. Kitty sighed as she saw that Gwynplaine was rather handsome even with his permenant smile forced onto his face.

'Nothing like seeing two hot guys to remind you that you're single,' Kitty thought bitterly as she scrunched up her face slightly in frustration.

Kitty almost jumped out of her skin when Victor spoke softly next to her ear "You think he's ugly?" She looked over at him and realized he had misread her experssion. Kitty smiled "Actually, I think he's rather cute."

"Even with his smile?" he asked in amusement and she nodded.

"Ya know, most people would think he's a freak," Victor said and she felt that there was alot riding on her response. On the screen, the black and white images showed Gwynplaine's inner turmoil about wanting to marry Dea but feeling that his face made him unworthy of her. "Well I'm not really one to judge someone for being a freak, that would be hypocritical of me," she said, hoping she gave the right answer while remaining vague enough.

He chuckled and brought his left hand up to rest his chin on the ball of his hand. Kitty's eyes widened as she noticed his claw like nails. She didn't know how she'd missed seeing them when she had first looked him over. But now she understood that the man was another mutant. Kitty didn't bother to hide her smile as she thought 'Freaks indeed.'

***  
The lights came up and the feeling of sophistican washed over her. The movie was as good as she hoped it would be and her spirits had lifted considerably. Kitty and Victor left their seats and walked out of the aisle to follow the other movie goers out of the theater.

She wanted to say something to him but nothing came to mind. Kitty knew that the chances that they would meet again in a city as big as New York were slim to pretty much none. Just as she got the idea that maybe she could convince him to get some coffee and talk about the movie with her. Which was stupid, seeing as how she had just met him and he probably had more important things to do than talk about a movie he'd already seen countless times before with someone he just met.

As she argued with herself on the pros and cons of her idea, she noticed that she had lost him in the crowd. Kitty sighed sadly before making her way out into the chilly October evening. She stopped short when she heard a strange noise from behind her. It reminded her of a noise one would use to call a house cat. Turning around she saw Victor staring at her with a smug grin on his face. Placing her hands on her hips and quirking an eyebrow at him she said "You know I'm not a cat."

Kitty walked the few feet between them and stopped only inches from him. "And still you came, seems like something a cat would do," he replied which earned him a light shove on the shoulder.

"What?" she asked, wondering why he called her over, and in such an embarressing manner. Victor reached into his pocket and brought out a small slip of paper and held it out to her. Kitty took the paper and saw a phone number written on it. "Wow you've got really got handwriting," Kitty said and she mentally kicked herself for saying something so stupid even if it was true. Victor had really nice handwriting for a guy, and it sort of reminded her of when Logan did his calligraphy.

He chuckled before pointing at the paper in her hand "If you ever get the urge to see another silent movie," he said with a wink before brushing past her.

She smiled before turning around and mimicking the noise he had made earlier. Kitty smirked in triumph as he stopped and glanced over his shoulder at her before continuing on shaking his head in amusement. She put the paper in her pocket before she practically skipped off to her car. Jubillee was not going to believe this.

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